Fear of Fear
by Waywatcher
Summary: One-shot. Gender-bender. Crow denies his fear and causes problems, including the disappearance of his friends. Calling this horror is slightly inaccurate, but more so than suspense.


**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

"Fear the wrath of Control Freak!" Screechs an overweight girl with dull red hair. She points her remote at a rack of videos and it suddenly animates itself. The rack lumbers forward and roars threateningly at the five teenaged superheroes standing in the store's entrance.

"Titans GO!" Robyn cries. The teens spring into action: Changeling turns into a rhino and charges the movie rack, Starfire takes to the air to fight off animated cash registers curtsy of Control Freak herself, Robyn fights off a giant television set, Crow goes after the Control Freak, and Cyborg fights of a hoard of Dorito bags.

Wham!

The green rhino smashes her foe into the wall, sending movies flying everywhere along with a cloud of dust. The shapeshifter stumbles out a moment later in human form, rubbing her head. "Dude! Who knew shelves were so tough?" She moans.

"Quit whining." Crow growls, shooting a black ray at the overweight supervillain. "It wasn't too bad a collision, and Azar know you have a thick skull."

Changeling mutters something under her breath about "uncaring, rude, and annoyingly cute sorcerers." and leaps at the supervillain after shifting into a tiger.

Robyn performs an acrobatic flip and lands on top of an inanimate movie rack. The grey structure wobbles under her a moment before settling. Robyn is forced of her perch a moment later when a wire whips past her face. A birdarang in hand, the girl wonder jumps up and nails the television in the... Face? Screen? Whatever. The sound of breaking glass can be heard as the screen breaks, but the appliance doesn't stop its attack.

Chink, chink, chink, chink. Go the cash registers as they fire at Starfire. The alien prince drops quickly to the floor to avoid the stream of coins before launching himself into the air at his foes. A quick punch takes out one of them, but the other backs off while covering his retreat with a hail of coins.

"Rahh!" Cyborg bellows as she crushes the chip bags. The small enemies explode into a shower of cheesy goodness as Cyborg stomps around. One bag manages to spring up and smack the metallic teenager in the face, not dealing any real damage, but annoying her to no end.

"Come to my side!" Control Freak shouts dramatically. Pointing her remote at a wooden cut-out of the monster from Wicked Scary.

Crow recoils when the monster looms over him, tentacles waving. A moment later the creature is thrown aside by an angry green gorilla that roars threateningly at the irritating supervillain.

"Looks like Crow is nothing but a chicken!" Control Freak laughs mockingly. "Frightened by a cut-out!"

"He is not!" Changeling hisses, momentarily returning to human form before shifting into a tyrannosaurus and charging the fat jerk.

'I-I...' Crow stands frozen for a moment before coming to his senses. 'Control Freak was wrong, I wasn't afraid, I was just... Surprised.' The argument makes sense, and Crow nods at his own logic. 'Yeah, I was just caught off guard.'

A large shadow looms over the half-demon and he looks up quickly to see an airborne T-Rex falling down on him, thrown by the Wicked Scary monster which had returned from being thrown. A moment later the dinosaur turns into a flailing Changeling who crashes into the poor boy and knocks them both to the floor.

"Ack..." Crow mutters, trying to shove the girl off him.

"I know I'm incredibly sexy, but this isn't the time." Changeling grins down at Crow. It takes him a moment to realize that his teammate is commenting on exactly where his hands are pushing.

Reddening, Crow immediately retracts his hands from Changeling's chest. The girl hops up before reaching down and hauling the embarrassed Titan to his feet.

"Urp..." Cyborg moans, holding a hand over her stomach. Little specs of chips are visible next to her mouth and bags litter the floor around her. Her face suddenly turns green and she rushes outside.

"Hi-yah!" Robyn yells, kicking the television in the screen. Another large crack forms. Noting that her birdarang is still embedded in the device Robyn leaps into the air and launches another kick. She hits the birdarang hard and buries it in the screen causing the television to short out and fall to the floor.

Clang! A coin ricochets off of the small movie case Starfire hoists in front of himself a shield. A well timed throw from the powerful boy sends the very same case spinning end-over-end through the air and right through the animated cash register, cutting it in half.

Control Freak suddenly finds herself backed into a corner with only her Wicked Scary monster at her disposal. "Aww crap." She mutters. "Not good." A quick flick of her wrist sends the monster lunging towards Crow again. This time Crow doesn't freeze up and he shreds the wooden monster to tiny splinters.

"The movie's over Control Freak. Good guys win." Robyn chuckles.

Control Freak mutters under her breath as the masked girl slaps handcuffs on her wrists. As Robyn escorts the villain out of the building Changeling glances around and something catches her eye. A quick hop and a jump bring her to an overturned movie rack with one case sticking outfrom below it.

"Dudes! Movie night!" She cries, hoisting the movie up into the air. The label reads "Wicked Scary". She takes the movie to the counter where the employee has been hiding the entire time. "Just a minute," She says, putting the movie on the counter. "I know I have my rental card here somewhere..."

"Just take it!" Two boy cries, thrusting the movie back at Changeling.

###

"Robyn! Get the hell up here!" Changeling's voice roars over the intercom. The masked girl jumps upon hearing the loud noise and growls in irritation a moment later. Placing Control Freak's remote in a glass display case, Robyn twirls around and stalks out of the evidence room.

"Was hat really necessary?" The girl wonder snaps, walking into the main room. "It's just movie night, no need to treat it like a damn mission!"

"Funny coming from you ms. Serious-all-the-time." Changeling nags.

Robyn grumbles but takes her seat. Cyborg is already seated next to her, but strangely doesn't have any snacks, Starfire sits next to her, holding a bowl of popcorn covered with... Mustard. Yuck. Crow is last in line; he holds a book in front of his face, bored already.

"Time for the scariest movie of the year!" Changeling cries giddily. She slides the disk into the played and the screen turns on. Knocking Crow's book aside the green girl promptly sits down in his lap before turning her attention to the screen and ignoring the string of complaints that exits his mouth.

"Shhh!" Starfire hushes his pale friend. Crow's face turns red as he realizes he's going to be stuck like that for the entire movie.

The words "WICKED SCARY" appear on the screen and everyone quiets down. The movie starts playing and Cyborg remotely dims the lights.

###

"Eeeek!" Shrieks Starfire in a very unmasculine manner. He cowers behind Robyn who has a horrified look on her face. Her eyes are glued to the screen, staring at the final scene.

Remember how I mentioned that Cyborg was sitting between Robyn and Starfire at the beginning of the movie? Well now the cybernetic girl is hiding behind the couch, peeking over the top so that she doesn't miss it despite her fear.

Only Changeling doesn't seem afraid in any way; quite to the contrary, she is bouncing up and down in her "seat" and leaning forward towards the screen.

Crow has been trying very hard to focus on the movie... And failing. Only the final scene catches his attention, and it terrif- Err, startles him.

A collective gasp rises up from the five Titans as the girl on screen turns around and screams. The screen goes black and the credits roll. The room is silent for a moment.

"That was AWESOME!"

"Scarier than robot commandos!"

"That was very much the gruesome."

"Dude! Epic!"

"Can you get off me now?"

The other three Titans chuckle as Changeling finally gets off Crow. He tries to glare at her but a wink and a suggestive pose turns him from glaring to recoiling in horror.

Robyn is the first to leave, claiming she needs sleep immediately to be at full strength for tomorrow. Starfire is next, saying something about Silkey and recounting the movie. Cyborg is third, explaining that she is low on power.

This leaves Crow alone with Changeling, and though he immediately leaves, the green-skinned girl follows him.

"That movie was scary huh?" Changeling asks.

"Not really." Crow says in a detached voice.

"C'mon, I know you were scared. I was sitting right there the entire time! I could feel you tense up."

"I. Was. Not. Scared." The half-demon growls and pulls his hood over his head.

"I'm not mocking you." Changeling whispers. Her tone switches from conversational to understanding. "It's fine to be afraid."

"I don't get scared!" Crow roars. "Let me be!"

Changeling holds up her hands in surrender and allows him to continue walking unharassed, but she knows that Crow is lying; she can smell the fear and nervousness radiating off him and genuinely worries for him. Sleep with that amount of fear could lead to nightmares quite easily.

But Crow, being the stubborn guy he is, convinces himself that he was just "startled", and that he wasn't afraid whatsoever.

Storming down the hall, Crow reaches his door and looks back. Surprised to not see Changeling, the empath fails to notice the small green spider clinging to his cloak as he enters his room to sleep.

###

Changeling sits near Crow's head, looking down on him with slight worry as she runs a hand through his hair. For the last hour he has been tossing and turning in his sleep, and fear radiates off of him like a beacon. Her decision to sneak into his room seemed ridiculous at first, but apparently it was a good idea.

She's about to wake him from his fitful sleep when suddenly an ear-splitting scream is heard, cutting through the silence like a knife through butter. It also wakes up Crow who sits bolt-upright and almost fails to notice the shapeshifter sitting next to him.

Almost.

Crow's eyes snap to meet Changeling's. He was going for a death glare, but the nightmare combined with the scream renders his expression more one of shock and... Fear?

'I'm not afraid... Not afraid! Just startled.' Crow thinks to himself as he tries to glare more threateningly.

What Crow wasn't expecting was the look of concern on Changeling's face. He finds it slightly uncharacteristic, isn't she supposed to be the teasing, sarcastic, seductive joker?

"THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Cyborg hollers, her voice reaches across the entire top level of the tower.

Both of the Titans snap out of their reverie and run out the door and to the main room. The other three are already there, glancing around frantically.

"Does any-" Robyn starts before the lights snap off.

"Crap." Cyborg growls.

"No jokes Changeling, we've been through enough tonight." Robyn sighs, looking at Changeling.

The shapeshifter raises her arms in the air. "Hey, I've been in Crow's room the entire night, how would I have set this up?"

"Right, so we... Wait. You were in Crow's room?" Robyn asks weakly.

"Not with my consent." Crow mutters.

Changeling folds her arms, a frown crosses her face. "I was making sure he was fine, and it was a good thing I was there too."

"Why's that?" Cyborg grins, amused despite the scream and the power outage.

A glare is directed in the direction of the metallic teen by the shapeshifter's angry green eyes.

"I like to make sure my friends are okay. You have a problem with that?" She hisses venomously.

Cyborg backs off, surprised at her friend's outburst, though not at her protectiveness. However, she can't resist noting to herself that in all probability it is 'More like she wants to make sure Crow is okay.' A smirk crosses her face as soon as Changeling turns away.

"Focusing onto the situation at hand." Robyn says, speaking up sharply. "We need to find out what happened; especially where that scream came from."

In the brief moment that follows Robyn's reminder the faint clanging of metal can be heard, seemingly coming from the hallway that holds Robyn, Cyborg, and Changeling's rooms.

"Uhh... I'll lead?" Cyborg offers weakly. She activates her shoulder light and starts creeping out of the room. The rest of the Titans follow as quietly as possible.

"Not afraid..." Crow mutters to himself as he follows Changeling. "Not scared..."

Changeling gives the pale boy a worried look but continues following Cyborg. Inwardly she is hitting herself for not being able to comfort her friend, but Crow would probably brush off her concern anyways.

The faint clanging sound is slightly louder now that the group has entered the right hallway, it seems to be coming from Cyborg's room.

"On three." Robyn whispers. Everybody nods.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

The five teenaged heroes burst into the room, weapons hot, only to find that the noise was Cyborg's microwave door smacking shut. It required electricity to stay closed so the power outage had caused the door to swing open and then closed, open and closed.

"Oh... That is very much the relief." Starfire sighs.

"Yeah..." Changeling mutters. "They why do I still feel something is off?"

Creeeeek.

"That was definitely NOT a microwave." Cyborg whimpers.

"Let's go." Robyn replies. She walks out the door, but everyone else is frozen in place for a moment. The door closes behind the martial artist before the other Titans manage to muster enough courage to follow.

That is, they WOULD follow, but when they open the door they find that Robyn is nowhere in sight.

"Robyn?" Starfire whines. "Are you here?"

"That's creepy." Cyborg whispers. Her light illuminates the darkened hallway; nothing stands out.

"Crow?" Changeling asks quietly. "Can you sense her? Cause I can't smell her anywhere."

Crow focuses for a moment but comes up blank when trying to find Robyn. Actually, he comes up blank for EVERYTHING. He can't even sense the people right beside him. Oddly, none of his emoticlones seem to be active either, he expected to hear from Timid by now, or maybe Brave.

"I can't sense anything." He answers in a slightly panicked voice. "I mean ANYTHING, not even you guys!"

"What about the rest of your powers?" Cyborg inquires.

Crow focuses for a moment and holds his hands out in front of him. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

...

"Nothing." The pale boy says shakily. "I have nothing! I'm helpless!"

"Don't not be the ridiculous." Starfire scoffs. "Were you not the one who spent an hour informing me on here physical prowess of demons and how even those with partial relationships have heir enhanced strength?"

"Fair point," Crow mutters, "but I'm not used to physical combat. So I'm still next to useless."

"Then I'll make it my job to protect you." Changeling says firmly. A sly grin spreads across her face. "Who knows? You might even get some side benefits."

Cyborg coughs in order to hide her laughter, while Starfire doesn't seem to understand what Changeling meant.

Crow's face is red, with rage or embarrassment is anyone's guess. "Don't waste your time protecting me!" He snaps. "I'm not that important."

"If I didn't know better then I would say your annoyed persona is just a mask and nothing more." Changeling remarks casually. "But you don't get scared so I suppose the mask is hiding another emotion?"

A vein pulses in Crow's temple as he listens to Changeling's sarcastic tone. "I don't need your protection! Nor do I want it!"

Changeling watches Crow twirl around and storm down the hallway, Starfire hot on his heels. Truth be told, the shapeshifter is just as annoyed as Crow is. 'Why can't he just admit it?' She complains to herself. 'We're his friends! Doesn't he trust us?'

"Ya probably coulda handled that better." Cyborg sighs, coming up to Changeling.

"No kidding..." She mutters, staring dejected at the ground. "I just wanna help, but he refuses. Heck, he refuses to even show positive emotion around us at all, much less fear."

"The guy is more uptight than Robyn sometimes." Cyborg agrees. "But he's always been there to help us, so we'll do the same; even if he doesn't want it."

"BACK FOUL MONSTER!" The alien prince's voice cries out, startling the two girls. The two charge down the hallway in the direction the male Titans had gone and take a turn at top speed.

A massive, tentacled monster looms over Starfire, who seems to be blasting away with starbolts. Crow is further back, lying on the floor as if thrown. He is fully consciousness though, and quite scar- Errm. Startled.

Suddenly, an orange-skinned boy comes flying past the two girls and slams into the wall behind them, creating a massive dent. The creature advances on Crow, grinning and hissing.

"BACK OFF JACKASS!" Changeling shrieks in rage. She shifts into a rhino and rushes the monster. She nails it in the stomach and sends it careening backwards. It screeches at the group and runs off after Cyborg blasts at it with her cannon.

Crow seems to be in a state of shock as Changeling reaches down to haul him to his feet. He stares, cross-eyed and uncomprehending, at Changeling, who's mouth is moving, but he can't hear what she is saying.

"Maybe you should smack him?" Cyborg suggests, helping Starfire out of the dent he created.

Changeling mulls it over for a moment. "I have a better idea." She says, grinning.

Crow snaps out of his shocked state when he feels something soft pressing against his mouth. His eyes focus, and then widen when he realizes that the soft things are Changeling's lips.

"Urp!" He squeaks; genuinely terrified. He attempt to push away the shapeshifter to no avail.

"Sure... NOW he shows emotion." Cyborg chuckles. From beside her Starfire stifles a laugh despite just being thrown into a metal wall by a giant monster. Cyborg allows Crow to panic for a few seconds before prying Changeling off him. "Not now girl, we gotta find Rob."

"Aww..." The green girl pouts, pointedly pursing her lips and causing Crow to turn even redder then he already was.

Cyborg rolls her eyes and leads the group onward. They make their way down a few levels, listening to the random noises that pop up from time to time.

"Well, we're not getting anywhere." Cyborg sighs. "No sign of Robyn yet." A thought strikes her. "Hey Star, where do ya think Rob would hide out if she-"

The metal teen stops short. Turning around had revealed that the energetic tamerainian was no longer there. Only she, Changeling, and Crow remained.

"Not cool." Cyborg whispers frantically. "We need to leave. Now."

Changeling and Crow nods their agreement. The three stick side by side as they sneak through the halls, making sure no one is out of sight.

They approach the door to the main elevator and Cyborg hits the button. A small "ding" can be heard as the elevator opens.

Low and behold, inside the elevator is the monster.

"Crap!" Cyborg hollers, immediately activating her cannon and blasting the abomination.

"Stay back Crow!" Changeling barks before leaping at the creature in wolf form.

Crow watches his friends fight with a growing sensation of dread. There is also another feeling there... A feeling of paralysis... A feeling of blankness, of loss of thought.

Is this fear?

The monster before the other two Titans shimmered slightly, and for all moment it seemed less solid.

"No, I'm not afraid!" Crow hisses to himself.

The monster looses any semblance of disappearing and becomes much more solid looking than before. It lunges at Cyborg and wraps it's tentacles around her cannon arm.

"Cyborg!" Changeling cries. She turns into a gorilla and tries to haul her friend away from the monster. A small tug-of-war happens for a few seconds before the monster yanks the metallic girl away from Changeling and into he elevator. The doors close before the green girl can help.

"No..." She mutters, slumping against the elevator door.

Crow twitchs uncertainly. He glances left and right, looking for more possible danger. He gasps when he feels something pick him up. He calms, slightly, when he identifies the "something" as Changeling. The girl now has him slung over her shoulder as she runs down the stairs at night extremely fast pace.

"Need to get out, need to get out." She whispers to herself constantly, ignoring anything Crow says.

They reach the main door, it is only a few steps away!

Crack.

Damnit.

The floor caves in and black vapors trail up f om the room below. Changeling shifts into a terodactyle and grabs Crow, but is immediately smashed to the floor by the monster which appears from seemingly nowhere.

Surrounded. Something no rational being wants to be when it comes to combat. Yet here they are, tentacled monsters suddenly appear on all sides.

"Crow." Changeling says. Her voice is unusually calm.

Crow glances at her uncertainly. What is she thinking?

"You need to admit it." She says matter-of-factly.

"I am not scared!" Crow growls.

"Only one thing to do then." The green girl says. She takes a step towards the half-demon.

The monsters are closing in, one inch at a time. Changeling doesn't waste more than a second. She closes the distance between herself and Crow, picks him up in one arm, turns into a gorilla once more, and hurls him up at the hole in the roof/floor towards the main door.

The unfortunate boy crashes into the door, but quickly picks himself up and looks down the hole.

Changeling is nowhere to be seen.

"No, no no..." Crow mutters. He staggers to the door and pulls it open. The sky outside is pitch black and rolling with storm clouds. The water around the tower is churning from the force of an invisible wind.

Hisss...

Crow turns around and looks up at the top of the tower. Clearly visible, is the monster. It stares down at the half-demon with a mocking smile, showing off its pointed teeth.

"Not afraid." Crow says shakily. "N-Not afraid!"

The monster leaps off the tower and lands behind him. Crow spins around and backs off, quickly finding himself pinned against the tower door which mysteriously closed itself.

He curls up as the creature looms over him.

"Not afraid, not afraid..." Crow mutters.

Hisss...

"I am scared." Crow realizes. "But in my stubbornness I just didn't want to admit it. Not even to my friends." He says mournfully.

The monster's eyes widen, and it starts backing up.

"But just because I'm scared doesn't mean I won't beat you up for taking my friends." The half-demon growls, turning around and looking menacingly at the creature. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

Crow's vision suddenly swims before his eyes and the world goes black.

###

"Crow?" A concerned, male voice asks.

"Just chill Star, he'll be just fine." Cyborg chuckles.

"He better get up soon, I want answers." Robyn mutters.

Crow opens his eyes, thoroughly exhausted, and looks around. Starfire is looming over him, staring directly into his eyes. Cyborg and Robyn are off to the side, shaking their heads.

"Changeling?" Crow croaks. "Where is she?"

"Here."

It takes him a moment to locate the voice. During that time he notices where he is. Everybody is in his room, clustered around his bed.

Changeling is actually sitting on the bed behind him. His head rests in her lap and she is looking down on him from above, though not as overbearingly as Starfire.

Starfire hops off the bed and joins Robyn and Cyborg while Changeling grins down on the tired boy.

"Finally admitted it?" She asks teasingly.

Crow huffs and turns his head away.

"I'm just joking Crow. You know you can trust me. You can trust all of us, we're friends aren't we?"

The half-demon hesitates, but nods. He always considered them friends, but for some reason he never could bring himself to trust them with his emotions. Speaking of which...

'Shut up Affection!' Crow hisses mentally. 'I'm starting to wish my powers had stayed repressed!'

"Then stop staring at her and do something!" The purple emoticlone shouts.

'I don't have any energy!'

"That's no excuse!"

Changeling notices his eyes glaze over as he argues with his emoticlone. Deciding this is a perfect opportunity, she leans down.

Crow freezes again as Changeling puts her mouth to his. From across the room the other three Titans stifle laughs.

"Same old Crow." Cyborg chuckles.

"I don't think any of us would have it any other way." Robyn sighs with a slight smile.

"They are so cute!" Starfire squeals in a very unmasculine manner.

Crow struggles in vain to free himself but fails, his strength is nonexistent at this point and he doubts he could even lift a plate of food.

"Should we leave him to his fate?" Cyborg laughs.

"For once I don't think looking he minds nearly as much as he pretends to." Robyn notes, tempted to agree for once. "But we need to know what happened."

"Aww..." Starfire sounds disapproving of the verdict.

"Changeling, pry yourself off him for a moment. We need to ask him a few things, remember?"

The green-skinned girl growls, but complies. She pulls her mouth off Crow's with an audible "pop!" and straightens her back, getting out of her hunched position. Crow is positively burning up, his face is on fire.

"Crow, what was all that?"

"It was my powers." Crow says miserably. "When I refused to admit my fear they went out of control."

"The monsters were all you?"

"Yes. The power outage too."

Robyn shakes her head in amazement. Cyborg whistles, and Starfire laughs.

"Well, next time admit it. Not to us if you don't want, but at least to yourself. Though admitting it to someone else does help." Robyn advises.

"I know." Crow says, looking guilty.

"Good. Now I'm going to fix the floor, and you two are helping." The girl wonder drags Cyborg and Starfire out of the room leaving a weakened Crow with Changeling.

"Now," Changeling asks seductively. "Where where we?"

'Azar save me.' Crow thinks; but despite the thought he can't stop a shy smile from crossing his face momentarily.

* * *

**One-shot complete. I seem to like these gender-benders a lot, maybe it's because I can use them in ways I can't use the normal Titans.**


End file.
